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Sword World 2.5
Description Sword World 2.5 is the revised edition of Sword World 2.0 in commemoration of it's ten-year anniversary. It's similar to the difference in D&D 3E and 3.5E in terms of being minor changes rather than a system revamp akin to the differences between 3E and 4E or Sword World 1.0 and Sword World 2.0. The mission statement for Sword World 2.5 was to make it even easier to play and to make it backwards compatible with all Sword World 2.0 content. One of the only new additions is the Fellow system. Effectively it is a way to bring along NPCs or hirelings of a friend's character he has retired or he could not play since he could not attend the session. It's very similar in tone to how Gygax supposedly added his own session's characters into Greyhawk, but the Fellow system is more to facilitate gameplay for sessions even if not everyone can make it or for even solo adventures. Examples of minor changes include Fairy Tamer being reworked, receiving some nerfs in damage and changes to play differently than just an offensive Elementalist with minor fluff. Instead there is a four attribute system in place to force diversifying abilities. New player races were added, but as this is an edition reboot a lot of the later book races were removed and may be re-added in upcoming supplements. Races removed include: High Elves, Dark Dwarves, Centaurs, and so on, with mainly on the core races returning. There has been some balancing changes as well to the game, but it still plays and feels like Sword World 2.0. There are, as of January 2019, two released core rulebooks and one upcoming rulebook. Core Rulebook 1: Main rules for items, Player races, and Skills. Core Rulebook 2: Cover: Sword of Liberation, Ignis. Adds rules for Fairy Tamers, Enhancers, and Bard Skills. Adds old Player races Grass Runner (Sword World's halfing) and the Lilidraken (Dragonoids). Adds new Player race not in 2.0, the tree people Meria [樹人メリア]. Effectively the Fairy Tamer preferred race just as Elves are the Fencer preferred race. A race which favors magic caster classes Return of the Honor Point and Rank Guild system. Fairy Tamers Fairy Tamers were originally crafted to emulate the abilities of Deedlit in Group SNE's Lodoss setting, Lodoss being effectively the Alpha setting for Sword World after they had to legally change the Replay of Lodoss with their House Rules which would later become Sword World 1.0. Fairy Tamers tend to be a hybrid of Familiar Users and Arcane casters in practice, but they use a six attribute system, rather than D&D's Greek Elementalism or Eastern Five Element systems. The Elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Dark. One could specialize in one attribute or branch out in all of them in 2.0, but that has changed in 2.5. Enhancers A sub-class or B Skill Series package, which mainly benefited Warriors and front-liners. It allows one to use Mana to use Skills to transform the body to temporarily augment ability scores or stats. Effectively a multi-class option useful with one level of investment up to even parity with main classes. Bard Bards have received a big overhaul, evolving from 2.0 which had them more in the quintessential role of Dragon Quest Dancer to now in 2.5 like the D&D cousin Bard which can support and fight alongside the party. Core Rulebook 3: Increases Player level cap to 15. Adds a new Player race, Leprechaun and Tience. Leprechauns follow the Sword World 2.0 template of big eared small humanoids, while Tience's are lifeforms from the Magictech era. Rules for Alchemist and Rider class options (Skill "package" is closer to how class-skills are referred to in Japan). Riders being the Mount-user B class series which can be really strong or weak depending on mount and the Player Character's build. Adds Sample characters for all 12 starting races introduced in the three Rulebooks. [[Sword World 2.5 Playable Races Introduction|Playable Races]] '''Major''' '''Experience Table Classes''' '''Minor''' '''Experience Table Classes ''' Feats [[Combat Feats]] Template Table